June 4, 2026

The unemployment rate in the Sioux Falls metro area dropped to 1.7 percent in April from 2.3 percent in March — reclaiming its title from Urban Honolulu as the lowest in the country.

Sioux Falls shared the lowest rate with Rapid City’s metro area, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The local metro area had not been in its long-held No. 1 spot since November 2025.

For the Sioux Falls metro area, which includes Minnehaha, Lincoln, McCook and Turner counties and Rock County in Minnesota, the 1.7 percent rate represents 3,059 unemployed people, according to the South Dakota Department of Labor & Regulation. In March, the number of unemployed was 3,936.

The jobless rate, which is not seasonally adjusted and is preliminary, represents residents who do not have jobs, have actively looked for one in the past four weeks and are available to work. It also includes those who have been laid off temporarily.

A year ago, the metro area jobless rate was 1.9 percent, with 3,388 unemployed people.

The total labor force for the Sioux Falls MSA, those who are employed and unemployed, was 177,050 in April, an increase from 174,803 in March and down from 178,330 a year ago.

The number of job openings locally fell to 10,425 in April, according to the state’s virtual labor market data system. There were 11,165 open positions the previous month. A year ago, there were 12,545 openings.

Nonfarm wage and salaried worker levels in the Sioux Falls MSA rose by 1,900 people to 181,100 in April compared with the previous month. The largest gain was 5.4 percent, or 200 jobs, in professional and business services. Also seeing significant gains were leisure and hospitality at 4.7 percent, or 800 jobs, and mining, logging and construction at 4.4 percent, or 500 jobs.

The category of information fell the most, down 3.8 percent, with 100 fewer jobs.

Compared with a year ago, the overall nonfarm wage and salaried worker level in the MSA was down by 1,000 people.

South Dakota’s unemployment rate was 2.2 percent in April, down from 2.3 percent in March. It remained the lowest in the country, followed by North Dakota at 2.4 percent. The District of Columbia had the highest unemployment rate at 6.2 percent, and the next-highest rate was 5.3 percent in California, Delaware and Nevada.

South Dakota’s jobless rate, which is seasonally adjusted, represents 10,708 people who do not have jobs, have actively looked for one in the past four weeks and are available to work, along with those laid off temporarily, according to the state Labor Department. In March, there were 11,178 unemployed South Dakotans.

A year ago, the rate was 2 percent, and there were 9,800 unemployed residents.

In April, South Dakota’s labor force was 490,754, a decrease of 1,091 people from March and basically unchanged from a year ago.

The labor supply, those who would be available to staff a new or expanding business, was estimated at 40,930 people. That includes people who are not working, those who would like to change jobs and discouraged workers.

The national unemployment rate was 4.3 percent in April, compared with 4.2 percent a year ago. It was unchanged from March.

Sioux Falls Job Service is hosting weekly Career Connect events this month from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The events are in Sioux Falls One Stop office at 1501 S. Highline Ave., Suite 1D.

Here’s the schedule:

• June 11: Children’s Home Society
• June 18: Hart2Hart, McDonald’s franchisee
• June 25: Pipestone

To view open positions before the events, visit southdakotaworks.org.

Businesses interested in participating in future events should contact Paul Robson, business services specialist in the Sioux Falls Job Service office, at 605-910-4833.